The invention relates generally to canine and feline dental health care products, and more particularly, to a toothbrush specifically designed for use with dogs and cats to provide for the cleaning of teeth, the prevention of periodontal and related diseases, and the reduction of halitosis. The invention, of course can also be used on other animals whose tooth structure is similar to cats and dogs.
Conventional methods of cleaning the teeth of dogs and cats by the pet owner have included chew toys, typically made of leather or rawhide strips, and biscuits, which when chewed purport to exhibit a cleaning effect on the animal's teeth. Other methods have included applying an abrasive powder to a gauze which is wrapped about the finger and applied directly to the animal's teeth. Cat and dog teeth can also be professionally cleaned by a veterinarian employing a method of ultrasonic scaling which involves anesthetizing the animal before performing the cleaning operation. Human toothbrushes have also been used to brush the teeth of dogs and cats, but as will be discussed in later sections, and do not lead themselves well for this purpose.
All of the above-described prior art methods have exhibited major drawbacks. Chew toys and biscuits have proven ineffective against the tartar build-up which leads to periodontal disease. The gauze and powder cleaning technique is difficult and ineffective in many respects since areas between teeth are not cleaned and other teeth are not reached at all, not to mention the fact that the owner is often place at risk of being bitten by the pet during application. Further, the gauze and powder process is impractical for the cleaning of cat teeth due to the limited access to the mouth area. Ultrasonic scaling by a veterinarian, while effective, is expensive, and extremely unsafe for use with older animals due to the risk of death associated with anesthesia.
Cleaning of a pet's teeth is very important because unclean teeth are primarily responsible for the most common disease encountered in small animal veterinary practice, periodontal disease, a term used to describe diseases of the tooth attachment apparatus, the gums, tooth roots, bone surrounding the teeth, and the periodontal ligament tissue joining tooth to bone. Symptoms range from gum inflamation (gingivitis), formation of plaque (food and bacteria) and bad breath, to serious accumulation of tartar (mineralized plaque), bleeding, receded or eroded gums, loose or infected teeth, and eventual loss of teeth. Periodontal disease is also the major cause of bad breath in dogs and cats.
The inadequacies of conventional canine and feline teeth cleaning methods are manifest, and evidenced by the fact that 95% of dogs aged five years or more exhibit symptoms of periodontal disease caused primarily by tartar build-up. If untreated, periodontal disease (periodontitis) often leads to severe damage of major organ systems which can shorten the animal's life. Moreover, in older animals, periodontal disease is difficult to treat in view of the previously referred-to risk associated with anaesthetizing the animal attendant to ultrasonic scaling. Moreover, human toothbrushes are not ideally suited to the prophylactic cleaning of cat and dog teeth. This is due in part to the generally untapered shape of the heads and bristles, short and awkward shape and configuration of the handle and head the generally firmer and harder bristles which are not ideally compatible with the higher sensitivity of the gums in cats and dogs as compared with those of human beings.
Also, the teeth of cats and dogs are shaped differently than those of human beings which necessitates features and characteristics not present in toothbrushes designed for humans. The mouths of many cats and dogs are of a drastically different relative shape and the teeth of dogs and cats, especially those in the back, are not so closely spaced as human teeth. Thus, due to the differing sensitivity of the gums and configuration of the mouth, human toothbrushes are not deemed suitable for use with dogs and cats. The stiffness of the bristles may injure the animal's gums and the shape of the brush is generally such that is tends to slide down the animal's teeth thus lessening the cleaning action of the toothbrush. Another notable inadequacy of the human toothbrush in cat and dog dental prophylactic applications is that the angle of the head relative to the brush handle is designed to accommodate the fact that human beings brush their own teeth. Because dogs and cats obviously cannot do the same, the handle of the toothbrush of the present invention employs a reverse angle to facilitate brushing by a human being. The handle is also elongated to maintain the owner's hand at a safe distance from the animal's mouth, thereby minimizing the probability of being bitten.
Finally, while human teeth are generally closely spaced, only the front teeth of cats and dogs are similarly spaced. Also, the difference in size between the back and front teeth of cats and dogs is generally far greater than that of humans. Because of these differences, a single configuration of bristles as exhibited by most human toothbrushes is generally regarded as inadequate for the dental prophylactic needs of animals.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush for cleaning the teeth of cats and dogs which is inexpensive, effective in the removal of plaque from the animal's mouth, safe and comfortable to both the animal and user in operation, and easy to use. A further object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush for cats and dogs which minimizes pain associated with the bristles coming into contact with the animal's gums, and which is contoured in comformity with the shape of the animal's teeth and mouth, while still providing for efficient removal of plague from the teeth of the animal thus inhibiting the onset of periodontal disease. A still more particular object of the invention is to provide a toothbrush for dogs and cats with two brush heads one large and one small, capable of being used for both front and back teeth, where the bristle surfaces on the brush heads are angled in conformity with the shape of the animal's teeth, the bristles are soft to prevent gum damage, and the brush heads are angled to enable efficient use by the pet owner or other user. The unique shape and soft bristles allow for well-tolerated brushing of even the most sensitive pet gums.